5, including 4 of a family, killed as bus hits ambulance in Dhaka-Mawa expressway
With the latest incident, more than two dozen people have been killed in nearly 30 accidents on the expressway this year, which has become a hotspot for deadly accidents and robberies
Five people, including four of a family, were killed as a bus hit the ambulance they were in at Munshiganj's Nimtala portion of the Dhaka-Mawa expressway.
Six others, including a child, were injured in the accident.
"One person died on the spot. The other four breathed their last after being taken to the hospital," SI Abdur Rahman of Highway Police's Hasara Station told The Business Standard.
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He said the injured are currently receiving treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).
According to local journalists, the deceased were identified as Abdus Samad Fakir, his son Billah Fakir, his daughter Afsana and the ambulance driver. The names of the other victims were not known.
Hasara Highway Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Abdul Quader Jilani said, "The body of the woman who died at the scene is in police custody. Both the bus and the ambulance have been seized."
Speaking to reporters, the injured said all of them hail from Madaripur Sadar's Mithapukur area. A total of 10 members of the family were heading for Dhaka to take Billal Fakir's pregnant wife, Rozina Begum (30), who had been in pain since last night, to a private hospital in the Dhanmondi area.
The ambulance's wheel burst when it reached the Nimtala area of the expressway, and the car was pushed onto the right side of the road where the driver was repairing the wheel, with some of the family members sitting inside the car and others standing next to it. When the repair was almost completed, a Golden Line Paribahan bus came from behind and hit the ambulance. A woman died on the spot after being hit by the bus. In addition, the passengers inside and outside the ambulance were seriously injured, they also said.
Fire Service rescue workers rescued them and sent them to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where the Dhaka Medical College Hospital authorities declared four of the seriously injured dead.
With the latest incident, more than two dozen people have been killed in nearly 30 accidents on the expressway this year, which has become a hotspot for deadly accidents and robberies.
In January, 10 people lost their lives in 10 accidents on the expressway, The Business Standard reported last month. In February, another five died in 10 accidents. In April, at least seven people died in at least 7 accidents.
The 55-kilometre expressway, designed to connect Dhaka with Bhanga, was supposed to ease commuting to the capital. Instead, it has turned into a death trap.
Inexperience of driving on an expressway, a sheer disregard for traffic rules, a lack of enforcement of speed limit and breakneck speeding by drivers have turned it into one of the deadliest stretches of road in the country.
The accidents went off the charts ever since the expressway was inaugurated in March 2020. From then till March 2021, at least 79 accidents took place on the expressway, killing 65 and leaving 67 severely injured. In 2021 alone, a total of 196 accidents took place there, leaving 74 dead and 265 severely injured, TBS reported in February 2022.
